- Israel's military tactics in the occupied territories
have been strongly condemned and "could amount to war crimes,"
according to the London-based human rights group Amnesty International
(AI).
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- An American group, Physicians for Human Rights USA (PHR),
also investigated the clashes by sending a team of three physicians to
the occupied territories in Gaza and the West Bank from Oct. 20-27.
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- PHR reinforced AI's findings, reporting that the Israeli
Defense Force (IDF) uses live ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets
"excessively and inappropriately."
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- Five weeks of Arab-Israeli violence have left 200 people
dead-many of them children-almost all of them Palestinian.
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- "There is a pattern of gross human rights violations
that may well amount to war crimes," said Claudio Cordone, AI's international
research director.
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- AI's latest findings go much further than its earlier
criticism that Israeli troops were using "excessive force" against
Palestinians.
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- Cordone repeated long-standing criticism of Israel's
"iron fist" military response to Palestinian demonstrations that
applies "combat reflexes" as opposed to what would be proper
policing methods.
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- "There is excessive use of force resulting in killings
that shouldn't take place," Cordone said. "If a kid is throwing
stones at you but not posing any other risk-you don't shoot him."
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- Geneva Conventions VIOLATED
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- AI says the Israeli forces are breaking the Geneva Conventions
as well as their own rules, namely, that lethal force must only be used
to counter an immediate threat to life.
-
- As part of international humanitarian law, the Geneva
Civilian Convention (1949) protects civilians under occupation and has
applied to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza since the 1967
war. An IDF senior officer told PHR that "the Fourth Geneva Convention
and other humanitarian laws apply" to the current clashes.
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- The Geneva Conventions prohibit murder, torture and cruel,
inhumane and degrading treatment. Included in the Geneva Conventions is
a law against force that results in disproportionate and/or indiscriminate
killing of or violence toward civilians.
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- In an occupation, such as Israel's of the West Bank and
Gaza, the rule of proportionality applies and prohibits excessive force
against civilians.
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- DEATH FROM ABOVE
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- Israel has repeatedly used combat helicopters firing
heavy machine guns and armor-piercing missiles on Palestinian civilians,
towns, and even ambulances.
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- The PHR team examined a Red Crescent Ambulance in Gaza
which was damaged by a helicopter gunship. The Israeli helicopter strafed
the ambulance with five 50-caliber shells that passed right through the
ambulance, including a metal gurney.
-
- The bullets used by the IDF against Jewish citizens in
Israel or Jewish settlers in the occupied territories are very different
than those used on Palestinians. The bullets used for Jewish riot control
are solid rubber. There have been no reported deaths resulting from these
bullets.
-
- The so-called rubber bullets used by the IDF against
Israel's Arab citizens and Palestinians are significantly different. The
"Arab bullets" examined by the PHR team are merely rubber-coated
steel bullets and very lethal.
-
- The rubber-coated bullets used on Palestinians are of
two shapes: spherical and cylindrical.
-
- The bullets used against Arabs only look rubber with
a thin 2 mm outer rubber shell around a solid steel core 1.83 cm in diameter.
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- HEAD INJURIES
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- PHR concluded that Israeli soldiers are shooting high-velocity
live ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets with intent to kill and
maim Palestinian demonstrators, based on the high number of injuries to
the head and thighs.
-
- PHR's analysis of fatal gun shot wounds in Gaza reveals
that approximately 50 percent were to the head. The high proportion of
fatal head wounds suggests that soldiers are specifically targeting Palestinians'
eyes.
-
- The IDF spokesman told the PHR team that he was aware
of the high incidence of gun shot wounds to the head, and did not dispute
that most of these injuries were inflicted upon people who posed no immediate
threat to any member of the IDF.
-
- After reviewing medical records of 31 Palestinians killed
in Gaza between Sept. 30 and Oct. 24, PHR found that 53 percent were shot
by high velocity weapons and 38 percent were under the age of 18.
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- PHR reported a pattern of high velocity gunshot wounds
to the leg, particularly to the thigh. These wounds cause extreme injury,
usually producing complex fractures and extensive muscle, nerve, and vascular
injury. The majority of victims of these injuries will be permanently disabled,
according to PHR.
-
- Witness reports, IDF statements and information provided
to other human rights organizations indicate that those injured in this
manner were at most throwing stones and were not carrying firearms.
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- The numerous reports of thigh wounds suggest a specific
IDF policy, according to PHR.
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- "A response to throwing stones that results in permanent
disability constitutes a gross violation of human rights," PHR concluded.
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- TARGETING AMBULANCES
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- PHR reported numerous instances in which the IDF blocked
hospitals in Jeru salem and prevented injured patients from receiving care.
-
- PHR also reported IDF shooting at medical personnel,
who were wearing vests clearly identifying them as medical personnel, while
they were providing care to the injured.
-
- According the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS),
33 ambulances were hit by gunfire and 17 were destroyed in 64 separate
attacks. Between Oct. 1 and Oct. 23, PHR reported that 17 Pales tinian
ambulances were "utterly de stroyed" by the IDF. During the week
from Oct. 19 to Oct. 23 alone, PHR found that 26 ambulances were damaged
by gunfire.
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- AI said that Israeli forces were no longer carrying out
investigations into killings.
-
- An IDF legal officer said soldiers, whose use of live
ammunition results in the death of a Palestinian, need not file a report
or face an investigation into the justification for the use of their weapon.
This is a departure from the procedures in place during the 1987-1993 Intifada.
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